Taranaki reaps rewards of "The Last Samurai"

The Tom Cruise movie "The
Last Samurai" directly injected nearly $90 million into the
New Zealand economy, with more than half captured by the
Taranaki region.

A newly-released report, commissioned by
Venture Taranaki in partnership with Investment New Zealand
and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, shows the
multi-million dollar movie project was a major success story
for New Zealand.

When flow-on activity generated by the
direct spend is taken into account, the film resulted in
nearly $196 million of benefit to the country (Taranaki $69
million) and added $91.7 million to GDP (Taranaki $33.4
million).

The economic impact study was undertaken by BERL
in Wellington.

"This report shows that the Taranaki region
rose to the challenge of a major Hollywood film project -
and clearly has the infrastructure to do so again," said
Stuart Trundle, chief executive of Venture Taranaki.

The
filming of "The Last Samurai" pumped money into more than a
dozen industries, with the motion picture, radio and TV
services sector directly reaping $40.3 million nationally
(Taranaki $12.9 million), according to the report.

Nearly
$20 million was directly spent on accommodation and
property, virtually all in the Taranaki region; the
vehicle/equipment hire industry received $5.9 million
(Taranaki $4.1 million) and retailers enjoyed a $5.4 million
boost (Taranaki $2.9 million).

"The filming of "The Last
Samurai" left a major impression on Taranaki - in terms of
both the economic boost and the wave of optimism it brought
to the region," said Mr Trundle.

"With more than a third
of local businesses providing a product or service to the
film company, they developed a determined "can do" attitude
and proved they could foot it with the best," he said.

The
report shows that the movie project resulted in a major
increase in turnover for many businesses - some up to 800% -
and created 1400 full time jobs (Taranaki 616) as a result
of the film and its flow on activity.

It concludes that
the movie industry is a "natural global showcase for New
Zealand's talent, creativity and innovation", as well as a
"source for foreign direct investment and foreign exchange
that creates jobs and infrastructure".

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